Tracy Untitled
by Raina McCallen
Summary: What happens when a person thinks "Out of sight, out of mind" and the consequences that come from it.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey guys, yes, I'm back. I've been gone for a little while, but that is because I've had RL stuff that I've had to deal with. Well, this is my first story being back at home after writing my last story back in California. I hope you enjoy it. It is something that has been rolling around my brain for a couple of days, and I just had to get it out before it drove me mad (-der than what is usual for me.) As always, I do not own the Tracy's or any of the other characters. They belong to Gerry Anderson. I just pull them out and play with them every now and again. ~Dasha

**Tracy Untitled**

By Dasha Hashiba

There was always the calm before the storm, and for the residents of Tracy Island, one never knew what that could be. It could be good, or it could be bad. Of course, depending on what the good could be, it could still turn out to be bad, especially when one copper top second youngest brother had something to do with it. Or of course, it could go the other way around, and be a bad situation or a very bad situation in just a very short matter of time. These were usually the worst types of situations to be called out for, and the Tracy men had truly learned to despise them, only a little bit more than when their brother Gordon decided that a prank was in order. It was those times when John Tracy, astronaut, second eldest brother, and primary pilot of TB5 was thankful that he spent most of his time up on the space station monitoring all the major band waves, waiting for the distress call that would send the rest of his family out on a mission to save another grateful citizen of the world population.

Of course, there was always a downside to his job. Being up in space so much, he was always missing the good times with his family, just being able to sit around with his family, catching up with the news, or even seeing and hearing the reactions of one of his brothers as they fell into one of Gordon's pranks. Sure, he heard from his brothers and fathers nearly every night, and they kept him up to date on things, Gordon even sometimes showing him vids of his brother's reactions to pranks, but it just wasn't the same. He wasn't THERE, seeing the pranks and reactions first hand. No, he was stuck up in space, doing what needed to be done, being the eyes and ears of International Rescue. Not for the first time, he wished that he were not stuck up here all the time; that he were able to spend more time with his family. Life for him, about TB5 was a very lonely existence. True yes, he loved his bird and the job that he did up here, but after months at a time with only a vidphone for communications, and occasional supply runs to keep his bird stocked with food, life could get very abysmal.

As it was right now, it had been some time since the last supply run, as business had been very busy with lots of calls for rescues, and so his brothers had not had the time to bring John needed supplies. He had run out of most of his food to the point that he was only eating once a day to conserve food. His coffee and chocolate had run out weeks ago, and he was truly missing them. All his brothers knew that John loved his chocolate, and he could get rather grumpy when his supply ran out.

Sighing, John stared out the window to the view of the earth below him. Usually he would love the sight of the earth, but at this point, it got no reaction out of him. If he looked closely, he could swear that he could see Tracy Island down in the South Pacific. If he closed his eyes, he could see his home; his brother Gordon swimming in the pool, Virgil playing the piano or painting, Scott watching TV or reading, and his youngest brother Alan spending time with his two best friends, Fermat and TinTin. If he concentrated hard enough, he could smell Onaha's cooking, and it set his mouth to watering, and his stomach to growling, reminding John that he had yet to eat today, even though the day was almost over. But with his seriously dwindling food supply, he was seriously considering not eating today. As he looked out over the earth, a tear slipped out his eye and rolled down his chook. He wanted to go home. He didn't want to be stuck up here any longer.

A beeping from the comm. system brought John out of his thoughts, and he turned his attention to the giant screen suspended over the window where the sight of the Earth turning filled his vision. He flipped on the switch to open the line. A look of surprise and happiness crossed his face when he saw his father's smiling visage on the screen.

"Hey Dad." He greeted warmly.

"Hey John." His father replied wearily, and John could see the exhaustion on the older man's face.

"You look exhausted Dad." He told him, studying his father's face.

"I am." Jeff replied. "I'm heading to bed soon, but I just wanted to check in with you first. With all the rescues we have been going on lately, it has been a few days since I've talked to you, and I just wanted to check up on you. How're you doing, Son?"

'_I'm miserable up here!'_ he wanted to cry out. _'I want to come home!'_ But instead, he gave his father a wan smile. "I'm doing okay Dad. Things are quiet right now. Go and get some sleep while you can." He missed his father's eyes narrowing as John looked away and checked one of his monitors quickly.

"Are you sure about that?" Jeff asked.

John winced. He knew that tone. "Yeah, I'm okay Dad. I just miss you guys is all. Starting to get rather lonely up here is all." He was embarrassed to feel tears fill his eyes and start to spill down his cheeks. He tried to wipe them away before his father spotted them, but with the narrowing of Jeff's eyes, John knew he had spotted them.

"We're coming up to get you John." His father told him.

"No, Dad." John tried to argue. He saw Jeff hesitate for a moment. When it looked like his Dad was going to say something more, John continued. "This is my job, Dad. I am the eyes and ears of International Rescue. Everyone is depending on me to do my job, and I can't let them down. I have two weeks left to this rotation, and I am going to finish it!" He was not like certain other brothers of his that tried to get out of finishing their full rotations. He felt his father's gaze on him, as if studying him, and John tried to put on a brave face, trying to convince him, even though he wanted nothing more than for his father; no, his commander, to give him an order that he was coming home. But he knew that would not be coming. He knew his father. Jefferson Tracy was the sort to trust his sons to know when they had reached their breaking point, and would do that smart thing and take a step back and take a break.

This might have been true for his Earth-bound sons, but the same could not be said for Jeff Tracy's Space-bound son. John was the sort of person to disregard his breaking point and continue right past it. As the Space Monitor for the Thunderbirds, usually he did not have a choice. Being up in space, he had developed his own set of rules, and when it came to the times when his father and brothers were away from the safety of the island on a rescue, he would commonly push himself way beyond his breaking point, and he would never be able to relax until they were safely back at home on Tracy Island.

John watched his father's brow furrow as he contemplated and debated on John's words.

"Are you sure John?" He asked finally.

John nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure." He replied.

But Jeff didn't seem to be listening or paying attention to his second born son. His attention seemed to be taken by something off camera that John could not see.

"Brains, what is the verdict?" He heard his father ask.

"W-w-well it is as you feared, Mr. Tracy. D-d-d surely broken." Those words made John sit forward in his chair. What had happened during the rescue? Were his brothers okay? He hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary while he had monitored the rescue.

"Damn it!" He heard his father exclaim. His next words however, were ones that made John's heart drop. "And we can't send him up to TB5 with a broken arm."

"Dad, what happened?" John demanded. He wanted to know what was going on. He knew that Alan was supposed to come up and relieve him in two weeks so he could have some time at home. He did not want to be stuck up here longer. This time, he would put his foot down.

As if remembering he had been talking to his non Earth-bound son, Jeff turned back to the monitor with almost what could be called a sheepish look on his face.

"Apparently your youngest brother Alan has suffered a broken arm. He injured it during the rescue and didn't tell anyone. Your brother Virgil noticed it as we were coming in to land. I'm sorry John, but it doesn't look like he will be able to come up and relieve you like he is supposed to. And I know you are looking forward to coming home when your tour is over. You have been up there almost three months, and you are due some time at home. But don't worry, we will figure something out so that you can still come home."

After that, John didn't hear too much more of what his father said. He made a few half-hearted replies when he was supposed to, and signed off not too soon after.

That night, it started.

John was woken up only two short hours after finally falling asleep after hours of trying, by an excruciating pounding in his head. Everything hurt, from the top of his head, to the bottom of his toes, and everything in between. A moan of pain escaped him as he sat up and turned on the light next to his bed. This turned into a gasp of agony as the light shot into his eyes and set off even more pain in him. This, of course, was followed by a moan, and finally a scream of the worst kind of pain as John somehow got to his feet and stumbled over to where the first aid kit was bolted to the bulkhead. Every step felt like boulders crashing against each other in his head. Somehow he made it to the kit and took a couple of the aspirin that he found in there. After a little while, the aspirin kicked in, and the headache went away. Feeling better, John went back to bed not realizing that more was yet to come, and it would be getting much worse.

A few days later found John in a very bad predicament. The headaches had gotten much worse in frequency and intensity. Nothing seemed to help lessen the brunt of them, and now John had an extra added bonus along with them. As of that morning, vomiting could be included with them. So now, anything that John ate to try and satisfy himself for the day was guaranteed to make a repeat showing. This was not good, considering the fact that John was down to only enough food to last him another two days at the most. After the food was gone, he didn't know what he was going to do.

As he was on his way back to the command deck to answer an incoming signal, he stopped as he had a moment of blackness. Just for a moment, his vision had gone completely black, leaving John blind. It was back almost immediately, but it left him puzzled. After sending his family out on the newest rescue, he tried to figure out what was going on with him. It had started with blinding headaches, and then progressed to nausea and vomiting, and now he had the most disturbing addition; blackouts and blindness. He did not want to even think of what the next step could be. In fact, he would prefer not to know at this point. If there was something seriously wrong with him, he didn't want to know. He did not want to put any added stress on his family. They had enough with all the rescues they had been going on lately. No, he would just wait and see what happened, and if it got any worse, then he would tell his family. His brothers were not the only ones in the family that were stubborn. John just hid it better than they did.

The deciding factor on whether or not John should tell his family what was going on with him came just a little while later. His brothers had been sent out on a rescue earlier to Toyama, Japan, where a commuter train had derailed after the signals had stopped functioning, and the tracks had failed to switch, causing a train to be in a perilous position. His brothers were the only ones that could safely attempt to move the train and save all the passengers aboard.

At the beginning of the rescue, everything had been fine. He had eaten something, and so he was feeling good. But as the rescue had progressed, he had felt the beginnings of one of the worst migraines yet. It had progressed so quickly that John had no defenses against it. Within the span of just fifteen minutes, he had vomited three times. He sat with his head resting on the console, his eyes closed, the fingers of both hands pressed against both of his temples, massaging them, trying to relieve some of the pressure pounding his head with no success. The cool steel of the console felt good under his face, and it seemed to be the only sort of relief that he was going to be able to find at that moment.

It took a little while for him to feel the liquid pooling in the palm of his hand, and he opened his eyes and looked down at his hand, staring at it in disbelief. There was no way that he could not recognize the red looking liquid congealing on the palm of his hand. Sitting up slowly, he raised his other hand to touch his face, and felt worry race through him as he pulled his fingers away to find them covered with blood. As he stared at it, he could hear a roaring in his ears that just seemed to get louder as he fumbled towards the switch that would connect him to Tracy Island.

"John, is everything okay?" He heard his father say dimly after a few moments, but he was only able to gasp two words before collapsing out of his chair and to the floor in a boneless heap.

"Help Me!" 

Well, what do you guys think? Good? Bad?


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well, here we go with part 2. Hope you guys are enjoying the ride so far. Sorry it took so long, and here you go for the people who have asked for another chapter. I have debated on whether I want to add more to this, or just post it as it is, and I have decided that I will just post it as is. Yes, I know it is small, but just means that I will have to add even more for the next chapter to make up for it. Gives me something to strive for, huh?

Me=nothing, Gerry Anderson=everything.

Tracy Untitled pt.2

The first thing that John Tracy realized when he opened his eyes again, was that everything hurt. He did not think that there was a part of his body that did not ache in some way. His head felt like a marching band had trampled through it, not sparing the drums and cymbals. Even his eyelids hurt, and he just barely muffled a whimper of pain as his instinctively flinched, and he felt the wave of pain travel down through his body. He felt like he had gone drinking the night before, and was now waking up with the killer hangover from hell. To further keep with the possibility, his mouth even tasted like stale beer, and it was taking all that John had in him to keep from vomiting all over himself. He had done enough of that in the past couple of days to last him the rest of his life.

Closing his eyes, he tried to remember the last thing he could remember. He could recall being up on TB5. He had been sitting at the console with his head down on the metal trying to keep himself from vomiting anymore from the migraine that felt like it was trying to rip his head in two. His stomach had long since been emptied itself of any kinds of nutrients that he could possibly have ingested, so there was nothing for him to bring up, and simply put, he hated throwing up, so whatever he had to do to keep himself from doing it again, he was all for. He had no strength what so ever, and so he settled deeper into the bed, his eyes fluttering shut once more as he was pulled into the land of unconsciousness.

Hearing a noise around him had John's eyes flying open once more to figure out what he had heard, and instead of the comforting familiar contours of his 'Bird's command deck, his exhausted and weary blue eyes took in the familiar but sterile features of the island's medical bay. It was one of his least favorite places on the island, and whenever he was here, he tried to escape as quickly as possible. But, how had he gotten here? His face scrunched up as he tried to piece his sluggish memory together. Last he could remember, he had been up on TB5 monitoring his brothers as they had been on a rescue, and then the migraine had hit, which had caused the bloody nose, and then he had passed out not too soon after. Had he been successful in contacting Tracy Island, and had someone come up to get him? He had a brief vision of his blood covered fingertips reaching for the paging unit to send a message back down to the island, but after that, it was a complete blank. He must have been successful, because he was here now.

Raising his right hand slowly up off the bed, John panted at the amount of work that it seemed to be requiring, and he scanned the palm of his hand before his strength seemed to totally leave him, and his arm flopped back down onto the bed, totally lifeless, his body devoid of energy. The blood that he could remember being there was gone, and his palm was clean. Hearing the noise again, John's gaze was drawn to the figure sitting by his bedside. He must have been truly out of it to have not noticed him sooner. John could not help but smile as he took in the sight of his father sitting at his bedside, sound asleep. He did not look like he was comfortable though, as the top half of his body was folded over onto the bed. John could imagine his father's back would hurt him terribly when he awoke. He could feel his other hand held securely in his father's grip, and it was something that had always brought comfort to John. He wondered if he should try and wake his father or just let him sleep.

"He's been here ever since we brought you down." A voice quietly spoke, and John jumped in shock, immediately regretting it as his body once more flamed in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to ride out the pain. It left him gasping when the tremor was over.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He heard the voice get closer, and moments later, looked up into the warm and compassionate chocolate eyes of his next youngest brother. Virgil's voice was low as he spoke to John, his gaze once more resting on their father asleep on the other side of John's bed. "Scott and I have tried to convince him to sleep in his own bed, but you know how dad can be when one of us are down here." John saw his brother grin, and he could not help but return a matching one albeit a bit weaker. He felt Virgil reach out a hand to gently lay it on his arm. "How are you feeling?" His gaze scanned the monitor above John's head with a practiced ease that only Virgil seemed to have, and he nodded, seemingly pleased with what he was reading.

"Terrific." John rasped out. "How?..." He had been trying to ask how long had he been out, but his voice failed him then, and so he just hoped that Virgil knew what he was trying to ask. Virgil had always been a bit of a mind reader, and so he was sure that his younger brother would understand what he was trying to say.

"How long have you been out?" Virgil finished his question, his gaze steady as he looked at John. It was one of those unnerving stares that made John have to look away. He nodded at his brother's question. "About three days." Virgil's words shocked John, and he was sure that the shock showed on his face. Apparently it had, cause a grim look crossed Virgil's face and he continued after glancing down at the figure of their father, still asleep. "We were coming back from the rescue when dad came on the comms saying that as soon as we landed, we had to immediately go up to TB5. Apparently dad had received a message from you saying 'Help Me' and he had been unable to get a hold of you since then."

John nodded. So his father had gotten his message after all. He felt his brother take his hand and squeeze it, as if needing the reassurances that his brother was here and that he was alive.

"I don't even remember the flight home, John. Or the flight up to TB5. all I could remember was the sound of dads voice when he told us that he couldn't contact you after that message. He looked so… haunted. I'll never forget his words before we took off John. He looked each of us in the eyes and said "Please hurry, you brother's life might depend on it." I don't think I'll ever forget that."

John looked away, as if unable to face the emotions on his younger brother's face. He could feel the guilt moving through him at the worry and feat that he had caused his family. "Virgil, I'm sorry." He said softly, his voice gruff.

"Sorry?" Virgil exclaimed. "Do you know what I was thinking that whole time we were heading up to Five, John? Huh? I was wondering if I would find you dead or alive, and I felt so guilty that I hadn't talked to you in a while." Virgil's voice was getting louder, and John's gaze went to their father still asleep next to him. "But then I was so mad at you for not telling us that there were problems; that there was something wrong." Virgil had begun pacing the room now with a full head of steam. John closed his eyes for a moment as a wave of exhaustion crashed into him as he prepared himself for Virgil's lecture. He must have had his eyes closed for long than he thought, because when he opened them again, the room was dark, and the chair next to his bed was empty. A quick scan of the room told him nothing about how long he had been out. From where he was laying, he could not see out the windows of the other side of the infirmary to see what color the sky was outside. But if he had to hazard a guess, he would say that it was nighttime. That was the only reason that would have forced his father away from his bedside. That, or another reason entirely that he did not want to let himself think about.

However, as if responding to his thoughts, he felt the slight vibrations start that could only mean one thing; the return of TB One. So they had been out on a rescue, he told himself, trying to calm himself down. He could feel a cold sweat breaking out all over his body at the mere thought of the Thunderbirds. What was wrong with him? Why was he having this sort of a reaction to thinking about the family business? However at that moment, he had a flash of remembrance of that conversation with his father when he had learned that he might not be able to come home, and his stomach clenched reflexively as a weight settled in his stomach and he felt on the verge of vomiting. He didn't think he would ever forget that moment as long as he lived. He felt almost deafened as the vibrations and noise from the landing of TB One died down and left silence in its wake. Up in the house, the noise from the powerful rockets was muted by layers of rocks and insulation, but down here in the infirmary, there was not as much insulation.

John quickly closed his eyes as he heard footsteps running down the hallway towards the infirmary, and the door came shooting open. John watched through slotted eyes beneath his eyelashes as his older brother Scott came rushing into the room. John laid still and pretended to be asleep as Scott came over to him and seemed to be studying him, as if looking for something. It was a few moments before John realized that Scott was talking, and he craned his ear to make out what he was saying. He was standing over next to the door, his back to John, and he seemed to be talking into his watch; head bent down, wrist raised towards his face.

"…seems to be the same, Virge. He looks to still be sleeping, as I said he probably would be. I knew he would be fine here by himself while we were out on the rescue. He never even knew we were gone." John saw Scott turn to look at him for a moment and then turn back towards the wall. "His color does look better, though." John could barely hear the small tinny voice that came out of his brother's watch, but he heard his brother's response plain as day. "Virge, you told me yourself that you were unsure how that monitor would work, as it is the first time that you have used it remotely. Look, I know you are worried about him. Hell, we all are. I haven't been that scared in a long time to go up there not knowing what we would find." John started for a moment, unbelieving what he had just heard. Scott had gone up to Five to save him? He was almost tempted to let Scott know that he was awake, but he wanted to hear more of the conversation between Scott and Virgil. There was another burst from the tinny voice before he heard Scott switch off his watch. John held his brother as he heard Scott approach his bedside one more time.

"I know you're awake John. Stop pretending you're not." He heard his brother say, and John paused for a moment before opening his eyes to look up at his older brother. Scott was looking down at him with a critical eye that made John uncomfortable to the point that he had to look away. After a few moments though, he did look back up at Scott, and now he could see the worry and fear that lay almost hidden in Scott's eyes. It was not a sight that was common to his big brother. He and his younger brothers had always wondered if Scott were the man of steel when they had been younger, as he had always seemed to be there when they needed him. It had taken John to relocating to TB5 for so long to realize that Scott was just human like the rest of them, but he just hid it better.

"You scared us, Johnny." Scott said finally, his voice a hoarse whisper as his closest hand reached out to take John's in a firm grip. _'Yeah, I scared myself.'_ John thought to himself. He could see the affect of his actions on his brother's face, the haunted look that seemed to linger, as he was sure still lingered on the face of the patriarch of the Tracy Family. And it was true. John was sorry for what he had put his family through those last few days, but at the time, he had been unable to see what his actions were doing. Unable, or unwilling, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that he had been feeling sorry for himself for not being able to get home, and feeling like he was being forgotten if only for calls of rescues and nothing else. Man, he could understand how Alan had felt all those years when he had been off at school at Wharton's, and not at home with the rest of his family. He would have to talk to the Sprout as soon as he could.

"I'm sorry Scott." He whispered, firming up his hand around his brother's tighter. While he really could not use his voice to assure his brother, as his throat was scratchy and painful to talk, he could use his actions to convince his brother. He just hoped that his brother believed him.

"Sorry, Johnny?" Scott exclaimed. "I would hope to hell that you are sorry! Why didn't you tell us what was going on?" He asked, his voice getting a little bit louder. John winced slightly. "We are a family, Johnny. You are not supposed to keep stuff like that from us! We need you to tell us when something is wrong, and we will come and get you!" Scott let go of John's hand and began to pace around the room, much like Virgil had earlier that day. "Do you know what it was like for me when we got up to you Johnny? What we saw when we found you? You were curled up lifelessly on the deck, so pale and so cold. There was blood on the monitor station where you usually sat, not to mention blood all over you. My blood ran cold when we spotted you, and for the briefest second, I thought you were dead, Johnny." Scott stopped his pacing now and turned his full attention on John. He shifted uncomfortably as he saw the depth of emotion that was visible in Scott's eyes. It was very uncommon for Scott to display this much emotion, as he was not one that usually was very expressive with said emotions, so to see them now, John had a brief insight as to just how alarming it had been for his brothers to have found them as they had. "I thought you were dead." He repeated again, this time a bit softer as he returned to John's bedside and seemed to study the blonde. "Why Johnny? Why didn't you tell us what was going on?"

"Yes, why didn't you tell us?" Another voice chimed in, and John looked up to see his father and the rest of his brothers standing in the doorway.

**A/N:** Dum Dum Dum ... lets see how things go now.


End file.
